Spencer Perceval
(1762-1812), Prime MinisterRegency Portraits Catalogue Entry
Sitter in 20 portraits
Lawyer and friend of Pitt, he became Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1807 and Prime Minister from 1809 until 1812. While he had a conservative outlook on society, Perceval supported the progressive anti-slavery campaign led by William Wilberforce, even co-founding the African Institute which was set up in 1807 to safeguard the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act. On 11 May 1812, Perceval was shot dead in the lobby of the House of Commons by John Bellingham, a merchant with a grudge against the British government. Caught and condemned to death on 15 May, Bellingham was executed three days later. Perceval remains the only British Prime Minister to have been assassinated while in office.
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